Interview with Augustin Teboul

Some time ago I did an interview with the ladies behind Augustin Teboul for the second issue of frock&roll talking about their now old collection. Augustin Teboul that is Annelie Augustin and Odély Teboul who met during studying fashion design at Esmod Paris. Up until they founded their own French-German label, they had worked for Y-3 and Jean Paul Gaultier. Two women and two spheres of contemporary fashion design who united in Spring 2010 to create a unique womenswear collection together. From the combination of the traditional craftsmanship of Odély Teboul and the clear shapes of Annelie Augustin sprung the initial project “Cadavre Exquis” with extraordinary success. The two designers set up a new designer fashion brand, positioned on the edge between ready-to-wear and haute couture.

How did the two of you meet and what made you decide it’s time to work together and start a label?
We were actually students in the same school, same promotion, in Paris. But at this time we knew each other very vaguely. A few years later, in 2009, we met again in London. We just took advantage of the coincidence, we were just spontaneous and started to work on a project together. We shared some time together in Paris, working on a small collection called “cadavre exquis”. We were awarded with three prizes in France and Germany, and decided then to launch the label AUGUSTIN TEBOUL.

Is it sometimes hard to work together or do you complement each other?
It’s something really fascinating to work together as we are complementary, we always share views and take advantage of our two contrasting personalities to create something out of that fusions.

Did both of you always want to become designers or was there another dream job of yours?
It’s obvious that both of us always wanted to work in a creative and artistic field.

The name of the current collection is “dreams are my reality” – how did you decide on that?
We are very instinctive and spontaneous. We are always sharing our dreams. We just decided then to write them down for a certain period and make use of that to create a collection. Dreams are fascinating us, it’s another reality.

And how did you take the collection from there on – i.e. how does a dream become reality? Do you mean how our dreams turn into clothes?
Well, it was two different levels of interpretation. On one hand we transcribed the absurd links in a dream. On the other hand we were inspired by more concrete elements from our dreams.

Instead of presenting your collection on a catwalk or in a very static installation it was more a choreography to the sounds of Richard Sanderson’s “dreams are my reality”, why did you opt for this?
We just feel like something more than just showing clothes. We also have our imaginary universe and stories to reveal…

Do you listen to music when you are designing, working etc.? What kind of music do you choose?
Sure! We listen to music all day long and all night. It goes from David Bowie, to Chopin. We like a lot of different stuff! Really…

You both worked for big design houses; do they influence the style of “Augustin Teboul” in any way?
It’s a great opportunity to work for such renowned designers and a creative challenge to enter someone else’s artistic universe.
Any step, view, sound in life inspires you. So there must be an influence also from what we’ve done before.

Would you say your personal style is very much like your label or not so much?
AUGUSTIN TEBOUL is the result of the fusion of two different persons. Our personal styles are quiet different from the clothes we create. We don’t think about what we would like to wear when we create.

photos via Augustin Teboul

words by: Kat Ober